Alan Shaffer, deputy undersecretary for acquisition and sustainment at the Department of Defense (DoD), said the Pentagon has made contract actions worth nearly $4.5 billion through the Defense Production Act Title III and other assistance programs to support the industrial base during the COVID-19 pandemic, National Defense reported Monday.
Shaffer said progress payments offered to contractors reached approximately $3.3 billion and about 90 percent of the payments flowed down to sub-tier suppliers.
“The actions the department took to accelerate payment to our suppliers, sub-tier, actually allowed them to stay in operation,” he said Monday during the NATSEC 2020 virtual conference. “If you ask me what the measure [of success] is, it's the number of companies that were able to continue to do their job through the pandemic and the crisis, and continue to provide product for national security.”
Shaffer said DoD is working with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Congress to seek additional funds in the next stimulus measure to help cover approximately $10 billion in pandemic-related costs.
